I struggled with how to think about complexity through much of my career, especially during the ten years I spent leading Office development. Modeling complexity impacted how we planned major releases, our technical strategy as we moved to new platforms, how we thought about the impact of new technologies, how we competed with Google Apps, how we thought about open source and throughout “frank and open” discussions with Bill Gates on our long term technical strategy for building the Office applications.
Why embracing complexity is the real challenge in software today
In the midst of industry discussions about productivity and automation, it’s all too easy to overlook the importance of properly reckoning with complexity.
From Open Source Software to Open Source Strategy
How the Smartest Executives Are Using Open Source Techniques to Optimize Corporate Strategy
The Facebook Method of Dealing With Complexity
Computers used to be weak, so we had to make their world simple. Now they can handle endless complexity, but we need to learn how to make the world simple
All you need is data and functions
It's really easy to tend towards complexity as engineers. I think on some level, we love complexity. There are obviously bad types of complexity, but I think there are other types of it that we seek out, because there's something satisfying about wrapping your head around it; and I think a lot of that kind of complexity ends up in our programming languages.
Computing, Complexity and Degrowth : Systemic Considerations for Digital De-escalation
Research on digital degrowth predominantly critiques digital expansion or presents alternative digital practices. Yet, analyzing the link between digital technologies and complexity is crucial to overcome systemic obstacles hindering digital de-escalation. This article presents the different types of links between complexity and computing observed in the literature: the infrastructural complexity inherent in digital technologies, the socio-political complexity induced by them, and finally, the ontological complexity (individual’s ways of relating to their environment) hindered by digitization. The paper explores these links to identify ways to reduce infrastructural and socio-political complexities, and to move away from the reductionist paradigm, in order to support digital degrowth. Its development shows that complexity induces ratchet effects (i.e. irreversibilities in the development of a technique in a society), rendering degrowth efforts difficult to handle by individuals. Therefore, strategies to overcome these barriers are proposed, suggesting that bottom-up simplification approaches stand a greater chance of making alternatives emerge from different stakeholders (including users). This digital shift assumes the development of methods and technical tools that enable individuals to disengage from their attachments to digital habits and infrastructure, opening a substantial field of study.
The Evolution of Software
Last week Chris Paik published a Google Doc titled, The End of Software, where he articulates the lowering cost of software development and potential implications. He ends the piece with a provocative statement: "Majoring in computer science today will be like majoring in journalism in the late...
HackerNoon - read, write and learn about any technology
How hackers start their afternoon. HackerNoon is a free platform with 25k+ contributing writers. 100M+ humans have visited HackerNoon to learn about technology
HackerNoon - read, write and learn about any technology
How hackers start their afternoon. HackerNoon is a free platform with 25k+ contributing writers. 100M+ humans have visited HackerNoon to learn about technology
HackerNoon - read, write and learn about any technology
How hackers start their afternoon. HackerNoon is a free platform with 25k+ contributing writers. 100M+ humans have visited HackerNoon to learn about technology
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Around the world, building the internet’s operating system—and a better way to work. In a world of tech companies fighting for growth at any cost, imagine one that gives away its most successful pr…
Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
21 essays on the software revolution — how agile, networked approaches are disrupting industries and remaking society. In English, German, and French.
Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
21 essays on the software revolution — how agile, networked approaches are disrupting industries and remaking society. In English, German, and French.
Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
21 essays on the software revolution — how agile, networked approaches are disrupting industries and remaking society. In English, German, and French.
Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
21 essays on the software revolution — how agile, networked approaches are disrupting industries and remaking society. In English, German, and French.
Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
21 essays on the software revolution — how agile, networked approaches are disrupting industries and remaking society. In English, German, and French.
Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
21 essays on the software revolution — how agile, networked approaches are disrupting industries and remaking society. In English, German, and French.